---
title: "The Shopify Free Trial in 2026: How It Works, Start to Finish"
description: "How the Shopify 3-day trial works, whether you need a card, what happens when it ends, what the $1/month offer covers, and how to get a finished store out of three days."
url: https://easyappsecom.com/guides/shopify-free-trial-guide
date: 2026-09-06
---

# The Shopify Free Trial in 2026: How It Works, Start to Finish

EasyApps Ecommerce

Last updated: September 2026

TL;DR: Shopify's trial is 3 days, no credit card required, followed by $1/month for three months. Three days is not long, so treat the trial as a decision window rather than a build window: the $1 period is where you actually build. Nothing is lost when the trial ends — the store pauses, your work is kept, and you can pick a plan whenever you are ready. Shopify also credits 1% of your sales back against your bill for the first six months.

### Start Your 3-Day Trial

No credit card required. 3 days free, then $1/month for 3 months to actually build the thing. Plus earn 1% of your sales back in Shopify credits. [Start your free trial](https://shopify.pxf.io/Gbn46r)

*[Affiliate link](https://easyappsecom.com/affiliate-disclosure) — EasyApps may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Shopify's price is the same either way.*

**TL;DR:** Shopify's trial is **3 days, no credit card required**, followed by **$1/month for three months**. Three days is not long, so treat the trial as a decision window rather than a build window: the $1 period is where you actually build. Nothing is lost when the trial ends — the store pauses, your work is kept, and you can pick a plan whenever you are ready. Shopify also credits **1% of your sales** back against your bill for the first six months.

## How the Trial Works

Signing up takes an email address. No card, no billing details, no commitment.

- **Length:** 3 days.
- **Card required:** No, not to start.
- **Access:** Full admin. Products, themes, navigation, shipping, taxes, domains, apps.
- **Selling:** Disabled. Checkout does not open until you choose a plan.
- **After:** $1/month for three months, then standard plan pricing.

That last point is the one people miss. The trial is short, but the cheap period after it is not — you get
 roughly 90 days of a fully working store for about $3.

## The Credits Offer: 1% of Sales Back

Alongside the $1/month introductory pricing, Shopify currently runs a **subscription credits**
 promotion: you earn **1% of your sales back as credit against your Shopify bill**. It is easy to dismiss as
 marketing, and for a store doing $500 a month it more or less is. For a store that scales quickly in its first half-year,
 it is real money.

| Plan | Maximum credit | Sales needed to reach it |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | $5,000 | $500,000 |
| Grow | $7,500 | $750,000 |
| Advanced | $10,000 | $1,000,000 |
| Plus | Not included |  |

**The details that decide whether it is worth anything to you:**

- **It is credit, not cash.** It offsets your subscription bill. You cannot withdraw it, and it does not
 pay for apps.
- **It accrues over your first six months**, or until you hit your plan's cap.
- **It requires Shopify Payments.** If you process through an external gateway you are already paying the
 third-party transaction fee, and now you are forgoing the credits as well — see
 [transaction fees explained](https://easyappsecom.com/guides/shopify-transaction-fees-explained).
- **There is a minimum.** You need to reach roughly $1,000 in sales before credits become usable.
- **Amounts are shown in your local currency.** The figures above are US dollars; Canadian merchants,
 for instance, see a CA$13,000 headline figure.

**What it is actually worth.** A store doing $10,000 a month reaches $60,000 in sales over six months and
 earns about **$600** in credit — which covers roughly seven months of the Grow plan. A store doing
 $2,000 a month earns about $120, or a bit over three months of Basic. Neither is life-changing, but both exceed what you
 pay Shopify during the promotional period, which makes the honest summary this: *for the first six months, your plan
 can genuinely cost close to nothing*.

Shopify has run this promotion in several forms and the terms change, so confirm the current version at signup rather
 than relying on any article, including this one.

## What You Can Realistically Do in Three Days

Three days is enough to answer "is this the right platform?" It is not enough to launch a considered store. Use
 it in this order:

1. **Day 1 — load real products.** Not placeholders. Three or four real ones with real photos,
 real prices and real descriptions. You are testing how your actual catalogue feels in the admin.
2. **Day 2 — pick a free theme and set the homepage.** Do not buy a theme yet. Establish whether
 the free themes can express your brand; usually they can.
3. **Day 3 — configure shipping and tax, and check the mobile view.** Shipping is where most
 platform frustrations surface. If Shopify's shipping model fits your business, the rest will fit too.

What not to do: do not install fifteen apps, do not write all your content, and do not buy a domain on day one.
 Those belong in the $1 period, when you have decided.

## What Happens When the Trial Ends

Nothing is deleted. The storefront becomes unavailable to visitors and the admin prompts you to select a plan.
 Your products, theme customisations, settings and content all remain exactly as you left them.

If you come back a week later, or a month later, and pick a plan, the store returns as it was. There is no penalty
 for letting a trial lapse and no need to start again from scratch.

If you do choose a plan, you can start on monthly billing and switch to annual later; the switch is prorated. There
 is no reason to commit to a year during a trial.

## Domains, Data and What Carries Over

| Thing | Carries over from the trial? |
|---|---|
| Products, collections, images | Yes |
| Theme and customisations | Yes |
| Shipping, tax and payment settings | Yes |
| Apps you installed | Yes, though their own trials run independently |
| Your .myshopify.com address | Yes — and it is permanent, so choose it thoughtfully |
| A custom domain | Yes, but buy it once you have committed |

The `.myshopify.com` subdomain you pick at signup cannot be changed afterwards. It is mostly invisible to
 customers once you connect a real domain, but it appears in some integrations, so avoid something you will regret.

## A Three-Day Trial Checklist

If you want to get the most out of the window, work through this:

- Add at least three real products with real photography
- Choose a free theme and set the homepage sections
- Configure at least one shipping zone with real rates
- Place a test order to see the full checkout as a customer sees it
- Open the store on your own phone — most of your traffic will be mobile
- Install one or two free apps to see how the app model works, not fifteen
- Decide: does this fit how the business actually operates?

When you are setting up a store properly, our [new store setup
 workflow](https://easyappsecom.com/guides/easyapps-new-store-setup-workflow) covers the conversion basics worth having in place before you send traffic anywhere.

## Frequently Asked Questions

### What is Shopify's 1% credits offer?

Shopify credits 1% of your sales back against your subscription bill during your first six months, up to $5,000 on Basic, $7,500 on Grow and $10,000 on Advanced. It is credit against the plan rather than cash, it does not apply to apps, and it requires Shopify Payments. Shopify Plus is not included.

### How much are the Shopify credits actually worth?

A store doing $10,000 per month reaches $60,000 in sales over six months and earns about $600 in credit, which covers roughly seven months of the Grow plan. A store doing $2,000 per month earns about $120. Combined with the $1/month introductory pricing, that means the subscription can cost close to nothing over the first six months.

### How long is the Shopify free trial in 2026?

Three days. Shopify shortened the trial from 14 days, and pairs it with an introductory offer of $1 per month for the first three months, so the practical evaluation period is closer to 90 days for about $3 in total.

### Do I need a credit card to start the Shopify trial?

No. You can start with just an email address. A payment method is only required when you choose a plan at the end of the trial.

### Can I sell during the free trial?

No. Checkout stays disabled until you select a plan. You can build the entire store and place test orders, but customers cannot buy until the store is on a paid plan.

### What happens to my store when the trial ends?

The storefront becomes unavailable to visitors and the store pauses. Nothing is deleted — your products, theme, settings and content are all retained, and the store returns exactly as it was when you select a plan, whether that is the next day or the next month.

### Can I extend the Shopify free trial?

There is no self-serve extension. The $1 per month introductory offer serves the same purpose at very low cost, giving you three months on a fully working store rather than three more days on a disabled one.

### Should I buy a domain during the trial?

Wait. Connect a domain once you have decided to keep the store. The .myshopify.com address works for building and testing, and it is what your store runs on until a custom domain is connected.

## Related Guides

- [How Much Does Shopify Cost in 2026?](https://easyappsecom.com/guides/how-much-does-shopify-cost-2026)
- [Is Shopify Free? What You Get for $0](https://easyappsecom.com/guides/is-shopify-free)
- [How to Start a Shopify Store in 2026](https://easyappsecom.com/guides/how-to-start-shopify-store-2026)
- [New Store Setup Workflow](https://easyappsecom.com/guides/easyapps-new-store-setup-workflow)
- [How to Get Your First Sale on Shopify](https://easyappsecom.com/guides/how-to-get-first-sale-shopify)